Do Not Forget About Bracken, Because He Won't Forget About You
by AggieReader
Summary: Final chapter is up, and there are a few surprises. Based on some 5x24 spoilers. Bracken plays a role in my world. I understand the writers say he won't , but I felt this opportunity was too big to give up. You also get to see Martha, Alexis and Jim, and see their thoughts on Kate and Castle's situation.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay folks, this bit is what I would do if I was writer for Castle. The tale starts after the spoiler clip we have previewed of Castle finding Kate's boarding pass to DC, and Castle and Kate fighting about it. I specifically have not included the swing set scene because I have no idea how the real writers will include that, and I'm sure their version of it is better than I could ever imagine writing. I know Marlow said Kate's mom's murder won't play a role in the finale, but for my story purposes, it definitely does. I do not own Castle, and if I did, we would have seen a lot more action this season, if you get my drift. Please enjoy! I plan on this story being a two parter, and I hope to get the second part done before the finale tomorrow. Thank you for reading, and I welcome any reviews.**

* * *

Martha walked in to see her dear boy sitting on the couch, eating Ben and Jerry's Rocky Road Ice Cream directly out of the tub with a spoon and wearing his pajamas and robe. "Oh, this can't be good," she groaned aloud.

Richard just shrugged, and stared into the vat of ice cream. Martha walked towards the couch, and sat down next to him, glancing at the array of once full, and now half empty, tubs of additional ice creams flavors. "What's wrong dear?"

Richard sighed, and stuck the spoon in the ice cream. Rubbing his hands over his eyes and through his hair, he moaned, "I don't understand, Mother. I just don't get it."

"What?" she asked.

"Kate. Kate and I. What we are, what I've been doing." He looked at her with piteous eyes. "Five years. I have invested five years in this relationship. I was her friend, confidant, partner, now lover, and she flips my world and decides to possibly leave, without considering me? What have I been doing, if I could mean so little to her?

"Well now, calm down. Let's start at the beginning. What do you mean by Katherine possibly leaving?" Martha asked.

Rick got up, sitting the ice cream on the table with the other tubs and throwing a blanket off of himself. "I mean, she's leaving. She had an interview with the Attorney General's Office."

"Oh, but that's wonderful!" Martha exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight. "She can have a more esteemed job, and one that neither of you will be getting shot at. Now, I know you would be disappointed not to play cop anymore at the precinct-"

"It's in DC. The job is in Washington."

And Martha understood. "Oh," she murmed quietly. "Oh, Richard, I'm so sorry. And she didn't tell you about the job?"

Richard paced back and forth in front of her. "No! I found her flight stub, and she tells me, 'Oh yes, Castle, I had a job interview in DC. Oh no, why would I consider you?'" I mean, seriously?"

Martha looked at him pointedly. "Well, why should she have? It's not like she needs your permission."

Rick came to a complete stop in front of her. "What? Seriously? We have been dating for almost a year, and you take her side on this? I'm not saying she needed to ask my permission. She's not a child. But she should have considered me!"

"Why?" Martha shot back. "What have you told her, given her, to let her know that you want her to stay?"

"I love her!" Rick shouted. "I love her! I have told her I love her. I have stood by her, when she is standing on a bomb, I have jumped to save her from a bullet, I have gone above and beyond to be there for her. What more does she want?"

"A normal life," Martha explained. "Don't you see, Richard? You have shown her what a normal life could be. Before you, her life was consumed with her mother's death, and with her work. It was just one day at a time. You told me she joined the police force solely because of her mother, isn't that right?"

Richard sighed, and sat on the coffee table. "Yea," he muttered.

"And now, thanks to you, she has learned to let that go. She has found her closure. And with you, she has started to think beyond today, and onto tomorrow. I doubt she would want to be a police officer for the rest of her life, if it wasn't her innate passion."

Rick scrubbed his hands over his face. "But why DC, then? She's never talked about DC, never discussed another job."

"Well, how did it come up?"

Rick thought for a second. "It had to be that last case. That agent wanted to talk to her privately. He must've said something to her about it."

Martha touched his arm, "He told her she could be great, bigger than she is now. Richard, she is an extraordinary woman, you have told me herself. She was heading towards big things once. Stanford, a law degree. Imagine if Alexis one day had her world completely stopped, and then could start again. Wouldn't you want that for her? To begin reaching for great things?"

"Yea, but," Rick sighed out of exasperation. "Why can't I be a part of that? Why would she shut me out?"

Martha looked at him sadly. "Maybe she feels you haven't given her a reason. Up, butbutbut," she shouted over Rick's sputtering, "Yes, I know, you stood by her with a bomb, and you've saved each other's lives. Goody for you. You did that _before_ you became a couple. And let's face it Richard, for a man that is such a great writer, you haven't always been the best in life of explaining how you feel. Have you told her that you _need _her as a life partner, not just as a fun chase? Or do you even want that?"

Rick sat there, staring at his feet. Martha tried to catch his eye. "Richard? Do you want that with her? A life? Because if not, it's not fair for you to pout and cry that she is trying to make one."

He looked up at her sadly, and smiled. "I can imagine waking up by her side every day for the rest of my life. I can imagine us being happy. But, I don't know, I don't know if that is what she wants. I don't know if she wants every day. And then, if it is every day, how do we start that? Marriage? She knows my history, it isn't good."

Martha sat back into the couch. "Did you know that General Washington lost many battles before the American Revolution? He really wasn't known as a great general."

Richard looked at her like he was crazy. "What?"

Martha nodded. "It's true! Many people called him cowardly because he retreated so often!" She leaned forward. "But what do we remember? We remember his bravery in the American Revolution. We remember his genius, and his rally, for our independence. And we remember what a great leader he was as our first president."

Richard stared at his mother, then shook his head and responded, "I think I have a brain freeze, because I am totally not following."

Martha threw up her hands in exasperation. "She won't care about your past relationships, or marriages, not if you two were to marry. It will be about just you two, and how you handle the relationship together. Don't you see? If you love her the way you claim you do, and I do believe you do, then that will be enough. It will! I guarantee it."

Rick looked down his nose at her. "Says the woman that has been married more times than me."

"Yes well," Martha shrugged. "I never loved them the way that I see you love Katherine." She stood up, and kissed him on the head. "Well, with that advice, I will be leaving. But Richard," she paused. "Think very hard on your next steps. If this job is really something Katherine wants, you need to consider how you handle it. Do you hold her up to be the best she can be, do you leave her to fend for herself, do you drag her down? These next few days, hell, few hours, could define your relationship. So make it count."

And with those parting words, she walked out the door, believing she had given her son sound advice.

* * *

She was riding along on a purple unicorn, the wind in her hair, when suddenly the unicorn turned to her and started singing the Star Wars theme. Why was her unicorn singing the Star Wars theme? Why….

Oh crap. It was her phone. That was her dad's assigned ring tone.

Alexis reached her hand out, searching, searching, got it. She put the phone up to her ear, and said, "Dad? Watimeizit?"

"I'm sorry, Pumpkin, did I wake you up?"

Alexis lifted her head, stared at the clock. Wondered if the power had possibly gone off and stuck her clock on that time, because it couldn't possibly be right. Not with her dad. "Dad, is it really 6 am?"

"Uh, yes."

"On a Friday morning?"

"Yes, I know, I'm sorry, but consider all those nights I had to wake up and rock you, and take care of you –"

"Yea, yea." She sat up in the bed. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Yea, I think so. Or at least, it will. Can you come over?"

"Sure. When do you want me to come over?"

"Now," her father replied, firmly.

Alexis was befuddled. "Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, her hung father hung up, and Alexis sat in her bed, stunned and curious as to what the day would bring.

Her father ripped open the door, and pulled her inside. "Come on! It took you like, forever!" He shouted.

Alexis laughed, and sat on the couch, where her dad had led her. "What is this about? What is going on?"

Castle sat down next to her, and took a big breath. "You and I have always been a team. I'm your father, you're my daughter. And I know I've put you through a lot, with my love life."

"You mean like the time my principal asked for your number?"

Her dad blushed. "Yea like that." He looked down at his hands and then up at her, seeming at a loss of words.

"This is about Detective Beckett, isn't it?" she asked.

Her dad blew out a big breath. "Yes. Yes it is. You know I love you. And you know I love her, right? But, you, you are my daughter. You are always a part of me, and I value your opinion."

Alexis sat back, crossing her arms. "You're going to ask her to marry you, aren't you?"

Her dad gulped. "Yes."

Alexis and her dad sat there in silence for a bit. Her dad ooched closer to her, scrambling, "Honey, I know you've been through two marriages with me, and I know you haven't always been a fan of Kate's, but –"

"You love her." Alexis stated, looking forward.

"Yes."

She looked back at her dad, right in his eyes. "Does she love you? Does she love you as much as you love her?"

Looking into her eyes, her father said, "I hope so. I think, I think I need to give her a chance to respond, to see if she feels this way. If she wants us. But Alexis, if you don't want this –"

"Dad, it's your life!" Alexis looked away. "You can do whatever you want."

"No, I'ts _our_ life. You and me. We have been together through everything. And it's important to me, Alexis. Before, when I asked Gina to marry me, you were too young to ask and I thought I was doing the right thing by you. But now, you're of age, and it will impact your life too. Albeit, I think in a positive way. But it's your life too. It's our life. And if you don't want it…"

Alexis sighed. "I want you happy," she whispered. She looked at her dad. "That's all I've ever wanted. I've read your books. They are adventurous, and exciting, but the characters are yearning for love, and I know that is you speaking for yourself through your words. You want that. And I want that for you. And," she shrugged, "I want it for us. For us to be happy. And if you think Kate will do it for you, will make your dreams of true love true, then do it. Do it, Dad."

Her father smiled. "Really? You mean that?" And with his look and his words, she knew he would not have asked Detective Beckett for her hand had she protested. She smiled, "Yea, I'm sure."

Her dad's grin grew, and he hopped up on feet. "Okay then! Off we go!"

"Off to where?" she asked, her brow furrowed.

"Well, if I'm going to ask Kate to officially join the family, it's only right that I have my daughter help me choose the ring, right?"

Alexis smiled. "Absolutely. Can we go to Tiffany's? I love the idea of Tiffany's."

Rick smiled. "Tiffany's it is."

* * *

The little bell on the door of the diner jingled as she walked through the door. She took a cursory glance around the tables, and finally spotted the man she had called to help clear her head.

"Katie!" shouted her dad. He had a table in the back, and had even left her the seat facing the door, just the way she liked it.

She skirted her way through the busy tables, and reached out to hug him. "Hi, Dad." She squeezed hard, and for some reason, didn't want to stop. She realized she'd already hurt Castle, but was this going to hurt her dad too?

"Hey now," he murmured, and rubbed his roughened palms up and down her back. "Everything, okay?"

Kate felt her eyes begin to tear up, and pulled out of her dad's embrace. "I don't know, Dad. I'm – I'm afraid I'm screwing everything all up." She looked into her father's eyes. "And I don't know if you are going to be happy about what I have to say."

Her father slowly sat down in his seat. "Okay. What is Katie? Are you – I mean are you and Castle, um…"

Kate shook her head. "Are we what?"

Her dad took a big breath. "Katie, are you pregnant?"

Kate just stared at her dad. And stared. "No," she stated vehemently. "No, Dad, I'm not pregnant. No. I mean, if I was, I would like to imagine I would be happier – "

"Oh, and me too, I would definitely be happy. For you. Two. I mean for you two. Um."

Kate just couldn't help but smile at her dad and his awkwardness. She reached out across the table and grabbed his hands. "Dad, I'm not pregnant. But, I have a job offer."

Jim's eyes rose. "Oh? A promotion?"

Katie looked down. "No. I worked a case recently with a federal agent. He works for the Attorney General's office."

"I didn't even know they had Special Agents."

Kate shrugged. "Yea, there aren't many of them. But, he said he thought, maybe, I could be good at his job. He got me an interview. They called today, this afternoon. They want me. They want me to work for them."

Jim's eyes lit up as he smiled. "That's great news Katie! That's great!"

Kate looked up. "It's in Washington." And with that statement, she saw the glee in her dad's eyes dim, just a little.

Jim leaned forward. "Well, that would certainly be exciting. Washington, DC is a bustling place, and you've never lived anywhere else." He paused. "Is the job in DC, permanently?"

"Yea," she replied.

Jim's forehead creased. "And how does Rick feel about that?"

Kate crossed his arms. "I haven't told him I got the job. Not yet. We haven't seen each other since last night."

Jim's eyebrows rose. "Oh. I take it you told him about the prospect, and he wasn't too happy."

Kate winced. "Well, not so much. He, um, found my plane ticket, and it kinda came out." She glanced at her dad's face, and was sad to see the disappointment shining out of his eyes. "Look, don't look at me like that. Okay? I didn't know if there was even a good chance of getting it, and it's a job a lot of people would kill for. I didn't feel there was a reason to get Castle all worked up over it."

"Did you not want to get him worked up over it," Jim said, "Or did you want to keep him out of the decision?"

Kate teared up. "Does it matter? Either way, he's upset. He said that if I left, it would be the end of us."

Jim leaned forward. "Would it?"

Kate threw her hands up. "_I'm_ not the one who is saying it would have to end. I mean, people make it work, right? We could do weekends, holidays. And he's wealthy, he has a Ferrari for goodness sakes. He can take the train, or a private jet whenever he wants to."

Jim shook his head. "But Katie, that's not a life. You should know that. Do you think it would've been possible for your mother and I to have the life we had, with you, only on holidays and weekends?"

Kate sighed, and her shoulders sagged. "No," she murmured.

"Is that the kind of life you want with Rick? One like your mother and I had?" her Dad asked. A tear rolled down Kate's face, and she frantically brushed it off. "Katie?" her Dad inquired.

"I thought so," she blurted. "But, we've been together a year, and I don't know where we are going."

Jim chuckled. "Oh geez, the where are we going girl conversation."

Kate was bewildered. "Seriously? A girl conversation? This is a serious thing, Dad! And especially considering the man has been married twice, and dated more women than I can count!"

Jim shook his head. "You aren't giving him enough credit, Honey. Didn't you tell me that Rick never had a father figure? It was just him and his mother, right?" Kate nodded in assurance. "Then he's never truly experienced what an appropriate relationship really is. What steps there are to take, nor has he had a male role model to really discuss it with. As for his other marriages? To my understanding the first wife was a flake, right?"

Kate chuckled, and wiped her eyes again. "Yea. But she told me her and Castle never worked out because he didn't open up."

"Katie," her dad admonished. "You are an investigator. You question people every day. Do you ever question Castle? I know he's questioned you about everything, butted into your life about everything, but have you done the same to him? Have you ever asked him for a silly trinket that meant something, or what movie has the most meaning to him?"

Kate began to have a cold dread in her shoulders. "Well, no but –"

"But no, nothing. Sounds like wife number 1 didn't try, and sounds like you aren't either. And what about wife number 2? Do you know what went wrong with that one?"

Kate pondered for a moment. "Yea, he told me."

Jim tilted his head. "So he has given you information on his second marriage. Sounds like he _is_ open with you, hmm?"

Kate blushed. "He said he married her for Alexis. That she needed a mother, but he just didn't love her that way."

Jim smiled sadly. "I can understand that. I understand that completely. There were times, times when I wondered if I had just moved on quickly, found you someone that could be a second mother, if it would be easier for you. It's a sign of a flawed man, but one that loves his daughter, Katie. You can't fault him for that."

Katie felt tears rolling down her face. "So then why not me? Why hasn't he asked me?"

Jim reached over and grabbed her hands. "Honey, you mean the world to me. I love you. But sometimes, sometimes you make it difficult for people to get to you. I remember Rick sitting there for hours, days, waiting for you to wake up when you were shot, and once you did? You sent him away. And I remember when you had that big fight, and you said you were done, he still took you back with arms wide open."

"But I came to him!" she shouted. Heads turned towards them in the diner. Kate just smiled weekly at them, and leaned in closer to her father. "I came to _him_," she whispered harshly. "And I'm the one that started the relationship."

"Katie he had started the relationship long before that. You just weren't willing to start it at the same time." Jim smiled. "The man doesn't need to have a conversation with you about where you are going, because for him, he is already there. I've seen him with you. He looks at the way I look at your mother. You are the endgame for him. There is no where else to go. It's just you, and what you want to do."

Kate began to cry earnestly. "Dad, what do I do?"

Jim shook his head. "I can't tell you that. But let me ask you something, if you had to choose one or the other, Rick or this exact job, in 50 years, what will still be there for you? What will mean the most to you? If it's the job, then go, and don't look back. But if it's Rick? Then stay. Heck, I'm sure Rick would support you doing another career around here if you wanted. I mean, you always wanted to go to law school."

Kate tried a gentle smile. "Yea, that's true."

Jim squeezed her hands. "Let's eat some juicy burgers, and you tell me your thoughts okay? And know that no matter what, I'll support you. Even if it means taking a plane on Christmas to see you, okay?"

Kate's smile grew. "Okay, Dad."

* * *

"Flowers, flowers, flowers," Castle looked around until he found the bouquet of roses. He grabbed them, stuffed them in the crystal vase he had brought, and set it on the table that he had also covered with a linen table cloth. He reached over to the stove, and stirred the pasta sauce that was simmering in the pot.

Okay, so he had broken into Kate's apartment. Well, not so much broken into, he did have a key. But, she had initially told him only to use the key for emergencies. But this _was_ an emergency. He loved her, and she needed to know that. He needed her to see that.

Jim had called Rick asking if Kate was okay, and that she sounded upset and was wanting to meet Jim. Castle handled it in stride, and immediately knew what he would do while she was gone. Tall cream candles were now strewn all over Kate's kitchen and living room and were glowing dimly. He's surprised the fire alarm hasn't been set off. He's cooking her favorite pasta dish, and has chilled chocolate covered strawberries and champagne set out on the table. Michael Buble was playing over the speakers. He is wearing his favorite suit, with the purple pinstriped shirt she's such a fan of. And in his pocket there is a small Tiffany blue ring box, with a ring that looks similar to her mother's. It has one large ruby in the middle to represent their year long courtship, and two diamonds on either side of it to represent their four years of friendship. The proposal had to be perfect. If she said no, he wanted it to be because she honestly didn't want to be married, not because of a shoddy presentation.

As he started to check the seasoning of the sauce, he heard a knock on the door. Humming to himself, he walked over, and peeped out the door to see a bike delivery guy with a dark helmet on and holding a medium sized brown box in his hand. Odd, at this time of hour, but those biker guys really worked their tail off. Cast;e swung open the door to see he towered over the short guy. The delivery guy seemed startled. "Ugh, dude, is this Detective Beckett's residence?"

"Yes, it is indeed. I can sign for that though," Rick responded and started to take the box.

_Pew!_

Castle felt a searing pain in his right knee, and felt it give out, slamming his body into the side of the door frame. The delvery guy barreled into him, slamming him back into the apartment, and shutting the door quietly. Castle gagged at the pain. He looked down at the blood pouring out of his knee, and looked up to see a small whole in the box the guy had been holding. "Wha…fuck?

The guy pulled a black cylinder out of his pocket. With a whip, the black cylinder extended into a baton. He stooped low beside Castle. "Okay, buddy. Detective Beckett here?"

"No, no." Castle uttered. His teeth were beginning to clack. God, don't let Beckett come home soon. But she should be…

The guy looked around the apartment. "Huh. Nice get up." He looked to Castle. "Where is the file?"

Castle, barely able to comprehend, stuttered, "The file?"

_BOOM!_

Castle's head exploded into pain, the knee long forgotten. Jesus, what was that? The baton came into view again as the delivery guy shook it at him. "Where is the goddamn file?" shouted the stranger.

"I, I, don't know. I don't know what file you are talking about."

_BOOM!_

God, the guy had wacked him across the forehead. Red began to smear Castle's vision. "The Bracken file!" he heard, as if from a distance. He heard stuff begin to crash. "Where is the Bracken file?"

Castle tried to laugh, but chocked on the pain. "It's not here."

The delivery guy came back and leaned into him. "Where? Where did she stash it?"

Castle knew he couldn't tell him. He couldn't tell him the file didn't exist. _God, Kate…_ "It's somewhere you won't get it."

_BOOM!_

With that hit, Castle began hearing bells. Funny, they sounded like church bells. But there weren't any church bells nearby. Castle's hearing and vision began zooming in and out, like a bad movie. "Where is the file? Where is it? Tell me!" He heard over and over. The guy began to beat at him, and now it was relentless. Strike after strike after strike. No, no, not like this. Not now…and with that thought, Castle lost consciousness.

* * *

Beckett searched through her purse for her keys as she walked down her hallway. Her discussion with her dad had been great, just what she needed. After the past few weeks and the big cases and life events, her head had gotten all jumbled. All it took was an hour with her dad to know what she needed to do.

But when she started to put her keys into her door, she saw the red streak. So small, about knee height, but there it was on the door frame. She dropped her purse to the floor, and reached into it for her gun. Drawing it up, she put her left hand to the door, and opened it slowly. She poked her gun around the door. Not hearing anything, she shoved her body through the door shouting, "NYPD, come out with your hands up!"

But no one came out. And she stepped into a nightmare.

The soft crooning of Michael Buble filled the air. She smelled burning pasta sauce. Her apartment had been totally trashed. Couches were ripped open, books and items thrown off her shelves, and a vase of roses that hadn't been there before had crashed on the table, and were dripping a sad drip, drop.

And there, spread on the floor, lay Castle, his head mangled to the point she could hardly recognize him, and his knee bloody and twisted unnaturally.

"No," she croaked. "No, please God." She ran to him, flew to him, practically tripped trying to get to his neck to feel his pulse. She scrambled to feel anything, and finally was able to feel small puffs of air coming out of his mouth. She ran back out to the door, grabbed her purse and scurried for her cell phone. She called 911.

"911 dispatcher, what's your emergency?"

"This is Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD. There's been a break-in at my address. I need, I need help! My, my, oh god, my partner, he's been attacked. He's, he's bleeding, there's massive head trauma-"

"Okay, Detective, we are sending an ambulance now. Calm down. Is he breathing?"

"I think, I think so. He's wearing a suit and tie, it's hard to get to his neck. I don't, I don't understand, why is he wearing this? Why is he here?"

"Detective! Are there any other injuries to your partner?"

Kate frantically looked down to the knee, squeezed her eyes shut when she saw it. "His knee. He's been kneecapped."

"They shot him in the knee?"

Kate gulped air. "Yes, yes, in the right leg. The right knee? Please, how long until the ambulance gets here?"

"They are on their way Detective. We have your address on file. They'll be there soon. Can you stay on the –"

Kate dropped the phone, and reached for Castle's head. She realized she shouldn't move him, he could have neck damage, but God, he was just lying there, and why was he in her apartment anyway? She looked around again. She melled the burning pasta again, and ran to turn the stove off. She flipped the dials, and turned back towards him. She saw a stack of wet paper on the table, saw the cover page that said, "Nakedly Happy Ever: Nikki and Jameson's Life Together." She began to sob. He had come here, had cooked, had gotten flowers, oh, and there was champagne and strawberries. And meanwhile she was determining whether it was worth it to keep him in her life.

She had made her decision. She was going to tell him that it was absolutely necessary to have him in her life, go over to his house and surprise him and demand a life together. She was going to go to him.

And instead, he had yet again made the first move. And wound up dying on her floor.

She heard a rampant knocking on her door. She scrambled over, yanked it open to allow the paramedics in. As two paramedics filed in she realized she was shouting at them, "He's there! He's there, help him, please!"

One of the young paramedics flipped Castle's eyelid open, another began to put a neckbrace around his neck. They were speaking to each in medical terms, and Kate couldn't keep up with the jargon. She wanted to scream at them to hurry, but she knew her distracting them wouldn't help Castle in the end.

After what felt like an eternity to Kate, the paramedics finally got Castle up on the backboard and took him down to the ambulance on the street. Cops were standing next to the room. "Detective…," one of the officers started to address. "No!" Kate shouted. "You can get my statement at the hospital, but I will not wait here while my partner is dying." She turned to the paramedic in the back of the ambulance. "Please! Can I get in with him?"

"Better hurry," the paramedic shouted back.

Kate frantically scurried into the back of the ambulance, and the paramedic closed the doors. "Get to the seat there on the left, and don't talk to me. I got to focus on him. Brett, let's go!" said the paramedic.

As the ambulance roared off, Kate heard the sirens begin to sound, and watched as the paramedic began scurring around Castle. As he inserted an IV into Castle's arms and cut off his shirt, Kate recalled a statement Castle said to her after she had been shot. "_I watched you die in that ambulance. Did you know that? You know what that's like? Watching the life drain out of someone you, someone you care about?_" She didn't understand then, but she understood now. She wanted to do nothing but grab Castle's hand and beg him to hold on, but the paramedic was all over him and she didn't want to get in the way. The paramedic was ripping Castle's pants, when he came to halt, and grabbed something out of his pocket.

"Here, hold that," the paramedic said, and threw something at Kate.

She barely caught the thrown object, then took a look down at it. Her hands began to shake. She was holding a Tiffany blue box, one that was shaped just the shape of a ring box. "No," she whispered to herself. She looked back at Castle with tears in her eyes, then back at the box. She tipped it open. Inside was a beautiful ring, and it wasn't just any diamond ring like every girl had, but an originally styled ring with a ruby. "No," she moaned aloud. "Please, no. He didn't, he didn't know how I felt, and, and-"

"Lady! I need you to be quiet, otherwise the hospital won't hear what I have to say okay?" The paramedic shouted at her.

Kate nodded, and continued to stare at the ring. She had asked him to stand up, to commit, and so he had decided to propose to her at her apartment. And now he was dying in front of her, and the last thing he had known, had felt from her, was that she was cutting him out of a life for a job. A job that seemed so stupid now, to her.

And she began to pray to whatever deity would hear her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, folks, thank you so much to those of you have reviewed my story, or reviewed this! I really appreciate it. This section turned out longer than I anticipated, so it will likely be three parts. Again, I do not own Castle.**

* * *

The ambulance pulled into the emergency bay, and as the ambulance doors were ripped open a cacophony of noise rushed in. Multiple doctors were standing around, and were shouting questions to the paramedic by Castle's side. The paramedic was responding, but Kate could barely understand a word. What she could understand horrified her, terms such as, "blown pupils", "possible brain hemorrhage", "internal bleeding," and "shattered kneecap." Kate just sat there for a second, and as Castle's body began to be wheeled quickly through the doors, she leaped out of the ambulance to follow. She ran through the doors, went to follow him into a windowed room when a short, blonde female nurse stepped in her way.

"Miss, we need information from you to help the patient."

Kate looked over the nurse's head to see the doctor's scrambling around Castle. She could see ominous screens with lines beeping, and what looked like a bag of blood being hung up next to him. "Please, I need to be in there with him."

The nurse touched her arm gently, and didn't say a word until Kate's eyes came back to hers. The nurse patiently replied, "I understand you want to be with him, but if you want to help him survive, I need to get some answers from you, okay?"

Kate gulped some air and pushed her hair back. "Okay, yea, I can do that. His name's Richard Castle, I'm his medical proxy."

"Are you married, or family?" The nurse asked.

Kate began to cry earnestly at the question. "No, no we're not married. He's my partner, though. He was, he was…" and she looked down at the small ring box she still held grasped in her hands.

The nurse smiled sadly. "Okay, dear. Tell me, did this happen when you were there? Were you with him when the incident occurred?"

Kate shook her head. "No, I came home and he was just there. I don't know how long he'd been there. I don't know. He wasn't, he wasn't even supposed to _be_ there!"

"Okay," the nurse nodded. "Now, let's get some medical history, if you know it. Then perhaps you should call his family, if they are in the area. The paramedics radioed that he made need some blood, and family is often the best source if he has any special needs, okay?"

Kate thought of calling Martha, and breaking the news to Alexis. And she had been instructed to call Gina in the event of an accident. This certainly seemed like something she should know. "Okay. Then, please, can I go in with him?"

The nurse shook her head. "I don't think so, dear. He's in the hands of our best now. Come on, let's get that information."

* * *

Alexis was grasping Gram's hand desperately as they ran into the emergency room. She looked all round but didn't see her father anywhere, or Kate. A short blond nurse came to them and asked, "Can I help you?"

Alexis just stared at her, too shocked to move. "Richard Castle," Martha butted in. "I'm his mother, this is his daughter. We were informed by Detective Kate Beckett that he needed immediate attention and he was here."

"Oh, yes," the nurse responded. "Mr. Castle is already in surgery, the doctors couldn't wait. Please, follow me. Detective Beckett is in the waiting room on level 4."

Alexis and Martha followed the nurse through the emergency room, and up the escalator to level 4. When they reached it, the nurse held open the doors and said to them, "To your left, ladies. The detective should be there."

They stepped out, and shuffled their way through the short hallway to a bright open room. The room was lit with a ton of lights. The outside wall was nothing but windows, and looked out into the dark Manhattan evening. The chairs were a soothing baby blue, and the walls were light green with paintings of yellow flowers hanging on the walls. And there in the middle of the pastel was Detective Beckett, her head hung low, wearing black scrubs. Her hair was wet, and it looked like she had freshly showered. Alexis realized the only reason the detective would have showered was because she had been covered in blood, and with that thought a sob was released from her throat. Detective Beckett's head snapped up, and she caught sight of Alexis and Martha standing before her. The detective got up and ran to them. Alexis ran to her, and they grabbed each other in a tight hug. Alexis began to sob earnestly, and she swore she felt the detective's shoulders shake fiercly as well. Alexis felt Martha touch her shoulder gently. "Katherine, what is going on? No one has told us anything."

Detective Beckett pulled away from Alexis, and wiped her eyes. "Martha, I don't even know everything. I came home to my apartment, I had been eating with my Dad. I saw blood on my door, so I grabbed my gun and busted in. Everything had been trashed and ransacked, and Castle," her throat caught. Detective Beckett swallowed and said, "Castle was on the floor." She looked between Alexis and Martha. "He, he had been beaten, and shot in the kneecap. I don't know," she began to cry earnestly, "I don't even know how long he had been there."

"About an hour and half, give or take," Alexis said.

Detective Beckett looked to her. "How do you know?"

Alexis smiled sadly. "Your father called Dad and told him you had called, and wanted to meet. He told Dad exactly when you two were meeting, so once we figured you had left, he rushed over there. Detective, Kate, when you found him was he, I mean, was he-"

"Yes," rushed Kate, "He was alive, he was breathing. He just, he had been beaten pretty bad. He has head injuries. The paramedics were saying things, but I didn't understand. I couldn't follow."

Martha pat her on the shoulder. "Well, we are glad you found him, and that you weren't hurt as well dear. Did they tell you-" she was interrupted by Kate's phone ringing. Kate looked at it, looked at them and said, "It's Captain Gates. I'm sorry, I have to take this. I'll make it quick."

Kate walked a discreet distance, and then answered the phone, "Captain Gates?"

"Detective," the captain started, "I have been informed by Robbery of the incident at your home, and they have told me about Mr. Castle. Are you okay? What is his status?"

"I'm fine, sir," Kate answered. "I wasn't in my apartment at the time of the attack. Castle is currently in surgery. They say," she took a deep breath. "The doctors say there may be massive head injuries."

She heard Captain Gates take a quick breath. "Detective, I want to let you know, we are now on this case as well. We are treating this as an attempted homicide. I have requested that Ryan and Esposito work on this case, but you will not be allowed to work it with them. Are you agreeable with that?"

"Yes sir. And, I'm going to have to ask for some time off as well."

"Absolutely granted, Detective. You are allowed to take sick leave when taking care of a loved one. I believe that applies here. I will keep in touch about Mr. Castle's status," stated the captain.

With that, Kate hung up, and went back to discuss the situation with Martha and Alexis. They would wait for more news, together.

* * *

"What do you mean, you didn't find the file?"

"I'm sorry sir, but it wasn't anywhere in the apartment to be found," replied the delivery guy over the phone.

Senator Bracken growled to himself, and squeezed his stress ball. It was his fifth one in two months. The rest had died quickly. "Volkov, you do understand she is a _detective,_ right, of some intelligence? She wouldn't have it just lying around."

"I know sir," responded the delivery guy. "But I looked on her computer, I tore things to shreds, looked in the air conditioning vents, I looked all over. It's not to be found. And her boyfriend wasn't helping either."

Bracken quirked his head at that. "Boyfriend?"

"Yea, she had some guy at the apartment. She wasn't there, but it looked like he was planning something. Candles and roses all over the place. I took care of him, and made sure to put all the candles out. Didn't want to cause a fire while I was at it."

Bracken took a deep breath. "What do you mean, took care of him? Who was he?"

"I beat him around a little. Didn't kill him, though. He wouldn't tell me where the file was, just that it was somewhere we would never find. It was that Richard Castle, the one that follows Beckett everywhere."

"God dang it," Bracken exclaimed, and with a sharp squeeze he killed his sixth stress ball. "Did you leave any hint that you worked on my behalf?"

"No sir. Did find something interesting though."

"What?"

"On her computer, sir. I was able to get into her calendar, and it said she had an appointment with an Attorney General in Washington, DC recently. Found a boarding pass for it too."

"The Attorney General?" pondered Bracken aloud. "She did work a case recently with a federal agent from that office. Perhaps it was related to that. Or perhaps more." Bracken tapped his finger. "Stay low, Volkov, and don't make another move till I tell you. I'll look into the Attorney General matter."

"Yes, sir."

Bracken began to hang up, and then shouted, "Wait, wait, you do have another task!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Go to the hospital and find out the status of Mr. Castle. He may remember something, and if the detective learns we crushed her beloved writer, she will come after us with a vengeance. We can't have that. Make sure that doesn't happen."

"Yes, sir."

With that, Bracken hung up. Then, he began making some calls.

* * *

"This is insane, Bro. Why would someone trash Beckett's apartment like this? And what was Castle doing with all of this?" Esposito asked Ryan.

Ryan elbowed him in the side. "Really? You can't see? This is why you and Lanie have issues. He was going to propose, man."

"Then where's the ring?" Esposito asked, pushing around some pillows.

"I don't know, maybe the guy took it. Wonder what else he got?"

Esposito shook his head. "I don't think this was a normal robbery. A lot of stuff is broken, and it doesn't look like anything was taken. We saw her bedroom, jewelry was scattered all over. Naw, man, this guy was looking for something."

Ryan shot him an earnest look. "Looking for something? You don't mean like," then he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Bracken's information?"

Esposito rolled his eyes. "I certainly hope not. Look, let's check with the neighbors. Beckett used to say she used to have bang on the walls to get the senior citizens to lower the television volume, but you never know."

The first wasn't helpful at all. Ms. Benson was incredibly friendly, and wished she could provide information, but had been feeling under the weather, so she had taken out her hearing aids and taken to bed early. The boys crossed the hall, and knocked on the next door. An older gentleman finally hollered, "Hold on already!" then swung open the door. Esposito and Ryan were met by a big gruff of a man who scowled at them. "What are you doing here? Can't you leave people alone? It's dark outside!"

"I understand, sir, and I do apologize. But there was an incident in the apartment next to you, and we wondering if you had seen anything odd as of late?"

The man gruffed. "At the detective's apartment?"

Esposito and Ryan looked at each other, and looked back at him. "Yes, sir. Did you see or hear anything?"

The man shook his head. "No, nice girl though." He paused. "But my nephew Mark may have. Hey, Mark! Come out here!"

After a few moments a boy, about 16 came out, looking shyly at the detectives. "What? It's a private residence."

Ryan furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Ya, kid, we don't care what you've been doing. Seen anything around here, or heard anything? Like maybe next door?"

Mark looked between the gruff man, then the detectives. "Uh, ya, maybe. I was outside, um, getting some fresh air-"

The gruff man whacked him on the side of the head. "You were smoking that weed again, weren't you, boy?"

The boy looked guiltly between the man and the detectives. "No! I didn't say that! You didn't hear me say that, right?" he inquired of the detectives.

Esposito and Ryan shook their heads. "No, dude, we don't care what you've been doing, but we do care what you may have seen, or heard."

Mark's shoulders relaxed. "Okay. Well, like I said, I was outside on the fire escape. I was peaking in the neighbor's window every now and again, I usually do because there's this hot-"

The gruff man whacked Mark's head again. "Am I raising you to be a peeping Tom?!"

Mark shrugged. "Uncle, she's hot! I don't look when she starts um, undressing. Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Continue," Ryan prodded.

"So, I looked and I see this guy. Wearing a nice suit, and he's doing the apartment up all fancy. Got a ton of candles, some roses, real swanky like."

"Castle," Esposito muttered to Ryan, who was frantically writing Mark's story. "Okay, then what?" Esposito asked.

"So, I hadn't looked for a few minutes, then all of the sudden I hear some banging. I look through the window, and I see a new guy. A biker."

"A biker?" questioned Ryan. "Like, a guy who rides a motorcycle?"

"No, dude." Mark answered. "Like a bike delivery guy. He was wearing one of the jersey's they sometimes wear, a red one, and he had a black helmet. Never took it off. And he had this stick. Like, a long black wand. And he kept bringing it down on something, I couldn't see. And he kept shouting. Something about breaking?"

"The biker was asking about something breaking?" Esposito asked.

"No, like, where was the breaking? Where is the breaking file?"

Esposito and Ryan looked at each other, then back at Mark. "Bracken? Like that? Bracken file?"

"Yea, dudes!" Mark nodded his head. "Bracken! Weird accent for breaking, huh? What is that, Irish?"

After they were done with Mark, Ryan and Esposito left to ask the doorman for the security video. "Man, we can't relay this to Beckett yet," Ryan muttered. "If we do, she will go off. And what if we are wrong? Maybe it really was something to do with breaking."

"Whatever," Esposito said. "You know its Bracken, I know its Bracken, and there may not be a damn thing to do once we tell Beckett."

* * *

Kate stared at the wall. Hospital staff had given Martha a cot, and she was sleeping in a corner of the waiting room. Alexis's head leaned against Kate's shoulder. She hoped the girl was having sound dreams. Kate couldn't seem to close her eyes without seeing Castle bloody on her floor.

"Kate?" she heard. So much for hopes. She turned her head, and looked down at Alexis. "You should get some sleep," Kate whispered.

"I guess Dad didn't get to do what he wanted to do tonight," Alexis responded.

Kate sighed. She reached into her left pocket, and pulled out the box for Alexis to see. Alexis popped up, her eyes darting from the box to Kate. "Wait, how?"

Kate shook her head. "Your dad didn't give it to me. The paramedics were cutting off his pant leg to get to his knee, and I guess this was obstructing it. They threw it to me to hold. I didn't even know he'd had it."

Alexis looked imploringly into Kate's face. "Did you look at it? Did you, you know, did you like it?"

Kate smiled, and began to tear up again. "Yea, I looked. I know I shouldn't have, but I was in such shock and….Alexis, it's beautiful. Did he, did he show you?"

Alexis nodded. "We went together to look for it. We went this morning."

Kate nodded and grasped Alexis's hand. "You both did a fantastic job. It's exquisite."

"Dad said extraordinary," Alexis replied. She looked directly into Kate's eyes. "Extraordinary like you."

Kate stumbled for a reply, when the doors they had been waiting for burst open. "Family of Richard Castle?" shouted a tall man dressed in scrubs.

"Here! Yes!" Alexis shouted. Kate shook Martha, who slowly got out of the cot. The doctor walked slowly towards them. Martha reached out and grabbed both Kate and Alexis's hands. "We are all family," Martha said. "I am his mother. Please, how is my son?"

The doctor shook his head. "At this point, he is in very critical condition. Your son looks to have been beaten with a hard object, mostly over the head. That is our biggest concern at this point. He had massive brain swelling which was cutting the oxygen supply to his brain. We removed a piece of his skull cap to relive that pressure, and have him on extensive antibiotics. He is currently on a ventilator to help keep his body from stress. We also cleaned out the bone shards from his knee. The bullet shattered it, so we decided to give him a complete knee replacement. It will be better, in the event he needs it for the long term."

Kate hung on to the last words. "In the event he needs it? He's not in the clear yet."

The doctor shook his head. "No, with head injuries this significant, we have to be extra diligent these next 24 hours. He is actually still in the operating room so if we have to move quickly tonight, we don't even need to move him. After 12 hours, he will be moved to the ICU. We can't let you into the operating room, so I suggest you go home, try to rest."

Martha cried a little sob. "We can't even see him, now? Not for a little bit?"

"No," the doctor responded. "I'm sorry, but we need to keep him as isolated in a sterile environment as possible. We will let you see him as soon as we safely can. Now, I need to get back to my patient."

"Thank you," Kate said, but the doctor was already leaving. She felt Martha rub her arm.

"I'm sure you don't want to go back to your apartment right now, not after this. Come back to Richard's place, you have items there you can use."

"Yea," Kate nodded. "Let's go home." With that, the ladies shuffled out.

What they hadn't paid attention to was the lone man in the room, the man in the Yankees baseball cap, jeans and white shirt. The man who left to call Bracken and give him the news.

* * *

Kate sat on the floor in Castle's bedroom. She couldn't bring herself to lie in his bed, not without him and not when their last real conversation had been one of such angry passion. Instead, she grabbed her phone, and dialed Esposito.

"Hey Beckett. How are you? How's our boy?" he answered.

Beckett sighed, and rubbed her temple. "He's not good guys. They still have him in the operating room, just in case."

"Jesus," Esposito whispered. There was a moment of silence.

"Guys, tell me you have something for me. Is Robbery cooperating?"

On the other end, Ryan and Esposito looked at each other, then silently agreed to tell Beckett everything. "Robbery is pretty much out Beckett," Ryan said after Esposito put the phone on speaker. "Nothing appears taken. Jewelry is still there, electronics, even your computer was on."

Kate cocked her head, tried to remember. "My computer was on? I usually don't leave it on. Did you see what was pulled up?"

"Ummm…" Esposito flipped through his notes and some pictures. "A calendar. A digital one."

"Huh," Kate grunted. "I don't remember that, but things have been crazy…"

"Either way, they've determined robbery wasn't the intent, Beckett. So it's down to us," Ryan responded. "Beckett…"

"What is it guys?" Kate asked. There was a pause. "Guys?"

"We found a witness who saw the whole thing through a window. Your next door neighbor's nephew," responded Esposito.

"Mark?" Kate inquired. "Yea, he's a perv, I've caught him trying to look into my window. He saw," she took a breath, "he saw Castle get attacked?"

"Well, he saw Castle there, then appears to have gotten high, and when he looked next, he saw a guy with a helmet, hitting something. He didn't see what he was hitting though, so he didn't see Castle getting beaten. That, plus his weed problem, is the reason he didn't call the cops."

"A guy with a helmet? Why was he wearing a helmet? What was he hitting with?"

"According to Mark, he was waving a big stick, we think maybe a baton," Ryan described. "As for the helmet, we think he wore it so his face couldn't be spotted. We have him on video coming out of your building, from both your building's security video and ones across the street, but we got nothing. The helmet had a bit of a visor, so all you can tell is its some short white dude."

"What about a license plate?" Kate asked. "Motorcycles are supposed to have license plates."

"Well, it wasn't a motorcycle. The guy was dressed like a bike delivery guy. But even those bikes are supposed to have licenses, but it looks like he removed it."

"A bike delivery guy? Did he have a package?"

There was another pause. "Ugh, ya, Beckett," Ryan stuttered, "was Castle, was he shot anywhere? With a small caliber perhaps?"

Kate cursed. "Yea, yea he was. Why?"

"The biker had a package, but it's funny. It's got a big hole in one side, and what appears to be a small hole on the other side. From what I was gathering, I bet he had his hand in one side, holding a gun, and shot the gun through the box at Castle. No one would have ever seen the gun. We only spotted the holes when he put the box in a satchel on the bike."

"So, the bike delivery guy knocks, Castle answers thinking it's a delivery for me, then gets shot, which allows the guy into the apartment," mused Kate.

"Kate?" Ryan questioned. "Did you get a look around the apartment? Do you always have all those candles and roses around?"

Kate swallowed. "Guys, I can't talk about it right now. I can't."

"We understand Beckett," Esposito said. She heard a grunt, and a small "ow!" then "shut the hell up, bringing that up now." She smiled at the thought of their concern.

"Beckett, something did come up though," Esposito said.

"What?" she asked.

"Mark, the nephew? He said the delivery guy kept saying, 'Where is the breaking file?' But Mark said the guy said breaking funny. So we fed him a word, and he said that was how the guy said it."

Kate waited, then said, "Spit it out guys. What was the word?"

"Bracken," Ryan stated. "The word we gave him was Bracken. It was the Bracken file they were looking for Beckett."

Kate began to cry. Her eyes filled with tears and they fell in a warm rush over her face. She thought this was done, she thought it was over, and now her man was in the hospital room because of it. "Mark was sure?" she uttered.

"Beckett, I'm sorry, but the kid was certain. And considering nothing was taken, and we haven't been able to track the guy… We called all the bike delivery places in Manhattan, none had a delivery on schedule to your place."

"Okay," Kate whispered. "Thanks guys. You can't, you can't tell Gates about this. What are we going to tell Gates?"

"We're going to leave that to you," Ryan responded. "But Beckett, I think you just need to watch your back for now, and take care of Castle, okay?"

"Yea, okay. Thanks guys. I mean it."

"Anytime," they said.

Kate hung up, and stared at the bed. Suddenly she stood up and walked to Castle's closet. She opened the grand doors, and flipped, flipped, flipped until she found his robe. She took it off the hanger and raised it to her nose. God, it smelled like him. She took a deep breath, then wrapped the robe around her shoulders. She walked to the bed, and fell back on the soft sheets. As Kate lay in Castle's bed, in his robe, she began to cry in earnest. She fell asleep with tears still drying on her cheek.

* * *

Kate jerked out of bed. What, who?

Her cell phone. It was ringing. She scrambled out of the bed and lunged for it, fearful it was going to be the hospital to tell her…"Hello?" she practically shouted.

"Hi, Detective Beckett. This is Agent Stack."

"Agent Stack. Hello. Yes, I'm sorry this isn't a good time."

"I'm sorry to hear that Detective, but I just need a moment of your time. I'm calling to tell you we unfortunately have to revoke our job offer."

Kate blinked stupidly. "Revoke it? I don't understand, I was just offered it yesterday, I was told I have two weeks to make a decision."

"I'm aware, Detective. Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that with the sequester we have less funding that we originally thought, and do not have the money to hire extra personnel."

"Less funds? The sequester went through months ago. You're just now learning this?"

Agent Stack sighed. "I agree, it isn't ideal, Detective, but with government, these things do happen. I wish you well with your career at the NYPD."

Kate began to feel suspicion. "Does this mean that you are not considering me for another position at the beginning of the next fiscal year? That's just a few months away."

"At this time, we do not expect that we will have a position open for you in the future. Thank you, Detective." With those parting words, Agent Stack hung up.

"Son of a bitch," Kate murmured. "Senator Bracken got to them too."


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, this is part three, the end of my version of 5x24. Thanks for sticking with me. I hope the shocker in this chapter is good enough for you. I felt a bit of glee as I wrote it.**

**Still don't own Castle. Wish I did. The things I would do with those characters…**

* * *

Kate frantically dialed Esposito. "This is Esposito."

"It's Bracken. It has to be!"

"Whoa, chica," Esposito soothed. "Let me get Ryan. Ryan! Okay, here he is, you're on speakerphone Beckett. Why do you think it was Bracken that broke into your apartment?"

"You said my computer was on, and my calendar was up, right, guys?" Kate asked.

"Yea, that's right," responded Ryan.

"I flew to Washington, DC a few days ago. I had a meeting with the Attorney General's office about a position," Kate told.

"Whoa, what? You were thinking of leaving us? This why you and Castle been so weird?" Esposito asked.

"Yea, guys, not the point. The point is, I was told yesterday I had the job, and –"

"Wait, so you really are leaving us?" Kevin interrupted.

"No!" Kate huffed. "Guys, I was going to turn down the job. But I just got offered it yesterday afternoon, and was told I had two weeks to decide. Then, this morning, I get a call telling me not only is the job rescinded, but I likely will never have a job with them. Ever."

"Bracken," Esposito sighed.

"Exactly. His thug saw the computer, told Bracken, and Bracken made some calls. It has to be," Kate emphazied.

"What do you want us to do, Beckett?" Kevin asked.

Kate sighed. "Nothing. Maybe keep trying to find the biker but other than that? Nothing. Bracken can't make too big of a splash after this fiasco. He can't be happy about the attention Castle must be getting. Is it all in the press?"

"Yea, the Times and Post both have it all over their papers," responded Esposito. "Apparently the hospital is having to do everything it can to keep Castle's fans from camping out. Gina's got to have her hands full," Esposito reported.

"Okay, I'm about to go to the hospital. I'll talk to you later. Keep me in the loop," Kate requested.

She hung up, and sat in the bed. It didn't seem like just this time yesterday, she had been wondering where her and Castle were going. Now, she just hoped he survived.

* * *

Kate, Alexis, and Martha walked up to the ICU front desk, and asked for Richard Castle. After a few minutes of waiting, Castle's doctor approached them.

"Ladies," he addressed them. "I am pleased to say Mr. Castle is recovering as well as we can expect, for now. We have just moved him to his room. I have to warn you, I will allow all three of you in to see him, however, if you become stressed, I need you to leave. We believe that patients can hear even when they are unconscious, and I can't have you stressing the patient. He is on a ventilator, and does have a number of bandages on his head. Be prepared," the doctor warned.

The women agreed, and walked after the doctor to a room at the end of the hallway. Kate was in front of Alexis and Martha, and as they approached the room, Kate could see Castle through glass doors. Tears began to fill her eyes again. As they walked in, she just stared at him. Castle really was an imposing figure when he stood regally in a room. Long legs and broad shoulders made him a big presence, wherever he went. Now, he looked so much smaller. Kate knew, logically, that he hadn't lost any weight, in this short of time, or lost any height, but he still appeared like a shell of the man he really was. He looked incredibly pale, and bandages completely wrapped around his skull, covering what was left of his hair from the surgery. Butterfly bandages patched his face. His eyes were both covered with deep purple bruising, and his nose was swollen and cut. His lip had also been busted on the left side. Kate wanted nothing more than Castle to jump up and shout, "Surprise!" But that wasn't going to happen. This was real life, and the man she loved was actually fighting to live. The ventilator sticking out of his mouth attaching him to a machine emphasized that point.

"When will you try to take him off the ventilator?" Kate asked.

"We will probably wait another 12 hours, at least," the doctor said. "We have him pretty sedated, so he won't wake up and try to fight the ventilator. We just never know with these cases. Sometimes patients wake up and miraculously have very little issues. Others fall into a coma, and never wake up." As Alexis gasped, the doctor looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I want to be realistic with you. Mr. Castle's injuries were very severe."

"Understood," Kate said. "We will stay here with him, if that is okay."

The doctor nodded. "That is fine," he said. "As long as you remain quiet."

The women settled in chairs surrounding Castle's bed. Kate reached for Castle's left hand, and realized she couldn't hold it over all of the tubes connected to him. She settled for rubbing her index finger over his wrist. After awhile, she began to repeatedly spell out, "Always."

* * *

Kate didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she felt someone tapping her shoulder. She jerked awake and looked immediately towards Castle. He was still connected to the ventilator and was unconscious. She turned, and saw her father. "Dad!" she whispered.

"Hi, Honey," he smiled, weakly. "Martha called me a little while ago, asked for me to bring some food that wasn't horrible. I picked up some sandwiches and salad. Here, here's your bag. Chicken salad with red grapes, just like you like it."

Kate took the bag from her father. "Thanks, Dad. I appreciate it." She looked around the room. "Where are Martha and Alexis?"

"They wanted to stretch their legs, so they took their meals to the cafeteria. They wanted me to tell you they didn't expect you to follow suit though."

"Ah," murmured Kate. She pulled out the chicken sandwich, but could do nothing more but poke at it.

"You got to eat a little something," Jim prodded.

Kate just looked at her father. Jim sighed. "So, I hear you found him this way. I suppose you didn't get to talk with him the way you planned?"

Kate shook her head. "No. I heard you knew he was going to my apartment."

Jim nodded. "He didn't tell me exactly what he was going to do, but he mentioned he thought he would surprise you there. Katie, if I had even had an inkling this would happen – "

"No, Daddy," Kate urged. "No. There was no way anyone could predict this."

"Do the police have any leads?" Jim asked.

Kate hesitated. It was long enough to give Jim a bad feeling. "Katie, tell me this isn't connected to those people. Those people that murdered your mother."

"We think so," Kate whispered.

Jim sighed, and shook his head. "Katie, these people may never stop. I thought it was done?"

Kate shrugged. "I did too, Dad. I had information and they think I still have it. It was supposed to protect us all."

"But it didn't," Jim responded.

"No."

Kate and her father sat there for a few moments in silence. Kate tried choking her sandwich down, and washed it down with some iced tea. "I think you should go to DC," she heard.

"I can't, Dad."

"Why? After this, I'm sure Castle wouldn't mind leaving New York," Jim stated.

"No, Dad. The people that killed Mom. You remember, they have connections. They got the job offer rescinded. It's not on the table anymore."

Jim shook his head. "I'm sorry, Katie," he said. "But still. You and Castle could leave, go somewhere –"

"And run?" Kate said. "Run to where? These people, they have long reaching arms. They could find us anywhere. I'm safer here, and I can protect everyone better, as a policeman."

"No, Katie," Jim urged. "You said it wasn't your passion. You said you wanted bigger things."

"Nothing is bigger than my family. _Nothing_," growled Kate. "And if the only way I can protect them is from behind a badge, then I will stay behind it. And after this? I will not stop to prove they did this to Castle. I won't."

* * *

"Yes?" Bracken spoke into the phone.

"I've heard that the Attorney General job was rescinded," he heard.

"That's correct," Bracken said. "It's a little too high ranking, a little too close to me, especially in DC. I want her gone, but she needs to be more than just gone from the NYPD. A family law position would be better. I didn't realize the federal agent position was in the works, otherwise I would have stopped it sooner."

"Neither did I. She didn't tell anyone. You realize that this attack on Mr. Castle just set your efforts behind. This will drive her to push further for revenge against you."

Bracken winced. "Yes, well, it is hard to get good help whenever Detective Beckett keeps killing my best men off. It will be taken care of, and such actions will not happen again. We will just have to take another route with the detective. Burn her out, perhaps."

"As long as it doesn't affect my career. We have to be extra careful, and don't make it look purposeful."

"Understood, Victoria. Have a pleasant day."

"Have a pleasant day, Senator Bracken," said Captain Gates.

* * *

"Sir, can you hear me? Please ma'am, back up, don't crowd him. He's breathing on his own, but we can't have him hyperventilating."

Castle was nauseous. God, what had happened? His eyes were closed, but the light already seemed too bright. And his head was splitting. No, literally, it felt like it had split in half. He waited to see if his brains began to spill down his neck, but he didn't feel anything. And, jeez, the rest of his body. His leg especially, the same one he had broken once before. He could tell from the dull ache that there had to be something wrong.

"Sir, can you hear me? If you can hear me, please open your eyes."

It was an effort, to open his eyes. He never thought it would be so hard. And then, finally, he opened them, and slammed them right shut. It was so bright…

"That's it sir. Try again."

This time he was able to open his eyes for a moment. He looked right into a middle aged man's green eyes. "Sir, here is an ice chip. Can you suck on it from my hand?" the man asked. He held an ice cube to Castle's lips. Castle felt the moisture run onto his lips, into his mouth and down his throat. It was blissful and soothing, and he moaned. He continued to suck on ice cubes for about 15 minutes. The man took his hand away, and looked into Castle's eyes. "Sir, can you talk?"

Castle tried to talk, but his throat was scratchy. He cleared his throat, and fire burst inside his neck. He coughed, and the man gave him more ice cubes. "Try again," the man said.

"Yes," Castle croaked. "Yes, I can."

"Do you know your name?"

"Castle. Richard Edgar Castle. My given name is Richard Alexander Rodgers."

"That is great. Do you know who the president is?"

"Um," Castle coughed. "Last I remember, it was Barack Obama."

"Good, good," the doctor nodded. The doctor motioned to someone. "Do you know who this is?"

Castle smiled as his little girl stood next to the doctor. "Hey, Pumpkin. That's my daughter, Alexis."

The doctor nodded, and gently pushed Alexis aside. He motioned to someone else. "And this woman?"

Castle's smile grew. "Hi, Mother. Her name is Martha." At that, Martha began to cry. "No no, it's okay, Mother. I know I got that one right."

The doctor laughed. "Ha, yes, Mr. Castle you did. Last name test. Who is this?"

A beautiful brunette with haunted hazel eyes sidled up next to the doctor. Castle was silent. The doctor began to look worried. "Mr. Castle?" the doctor prodded.

"Yes, I'm sorry, it took a moment. Your hair looks different. Detective Kate Beckett, of the NYPD." Kate grinned a wide smile.

"Is there anything else you have to say about Katherine, dear?" Castle heard his mother ask.

"Yes, she works for Homicide." Castle coughed. "Oh God, someone tried to kill me?"

Kate suddenly looked concerned. "Castle, what is the nature of our relationship?"

Castle just stared at her. He started to chuckle, then burst into more coughing. The doctor fed him another ice chip. "I'm sorry, our relationship? I believe our relationship consists of you arresting me, and my following you." Castle moaned. "That's it, isn't it? Something happened. I promise, I promise not to sue."

"Mr. Castle," asked the doctor, "what year is it?"

"Um, it's 2010." The room was silent, except for the shuddering breaths that Kate was quickly releasing.

* * *

"Mr. Bracken, I'm surprised you wanted me to meet you in person."

"Mr. Volkov," Mr. Bracken stated. "I'm glad you are here. Have you ever been to the Hamptons?"

"No," replied Mr. Volkov, aka the delivery biker. "I did not grow up around wealth, and it still makes me uncomfortable."

"Well," Mr. Bracken said. "That's all right. It isn't for everyone." He stepped to the edge of the marina, where his boat knocked on the waves. "You know what I see, when I see the ocean, Mr. Volkov?"

"What?" Mr. Volkov asked.

"Promise," Mr. Bracken said. "Here, let us drink whiskey, while you update me on Mr. Castle's status." He handed Mr. Volkov a crystal tumbler, filled with whiskey, Mr. Volkov's favorite drink. Mr. Volkov swallowed greedily.

"It couldn't be better, Senator," Mr. Volkov said. "The man doesn't remember the attack at all, and hardly remembers the detective."

"Really?" Bracken murmured, holding his drink. "He doesn't remember the relationship you believe they had?"

"No, sir. He's oblivious. They still haven't told him. Something about his memory may come back on his own. It seems to have devastated the detective. It will be interesting to see-" Mr. Volkov began to cough.

"There, there, Volkov," Bracken said, slapping Mr. Volkov on the back. "Drank too quickly, did you?"

Mr. Volkov continued to cough, and grabbed at his throat. "What? What did you do?" he gasped.

"_I_ do?" Bracken asked. "_I_ didn't do anything. You however, failed. I asked you to discreetly get the file Detective Beckett had on me, and instead you caused a publicity nightmare. Now, she will come at me with a vengeance, if she is able to put together the puzzle pieces. I just can't have sloppy people work for me. And once you work for me, you either continue working for me, or meet the reaper. And you, sir, are about to meet the reaper."

Mr. Volkov fell to his knees, his face red and his lips turning blue. He spat vomit, and after a few moments, fell on his face in the course of a seizure. After a few minutes, his body stopped trembling. Bracken snapped his fingers, and a couple of men walked up with a large trunk. "Put him in the trunk, and take him out to sea. Make sure to puncture his lungs so he doesn't float to the surface. We don't want anyone finding the trash," Bracken instructed. "And boys? Remember this as a lesson. Don't. Screw. Up."

* * *

Kate stood in front of Martha in the loft. "Martha, I can't keep it. It has to be expensive, and it doesn't mean what it once did."

Martha pushed the beautiful ruby engagement ring back into Kate's hands. "It absolutely has the same meaning it did, and more meaning, if that. My son bought that ring for you out of the true love he felt. And I truly believe he will feel that love again, some day. You just have to have faith and patience, just as he did for you. And if you keep this ring, you can grasp it when you feel that all hope is lost."

Kate grabbed Martha in for a hug. "I won't give up on him. I won't."

Martha hugged her back. "I have no doubt." She pulled away. "Now you know, he has at least six months of rehab for his knee and occupational therapy. But he is already adamant that he wants to shadow you again for his writing, once he is physically capable. He doesn't remember writing the Nikki Heat series, but he knows about them and wants to continue writing them if he is up for the task. Will you allow him to shadow you, knowing he doesn't remember the full scale of your relationship?"

"Absolutely," Kate nodded. "I will do whatever it takes to jog his memory. And if it doesn't return, then I will get him to love me again. I will."

Kate took the ring, and left the loft to head back to the precinct. What she didn't tell Martha, was that in addition to getting Castle to love her again, she was going to do whatever it took to protect him, and revenge his lost memory and her mother's death. And this time, she was even smarter than she was before.

_Fin._


End file.
